Swordsmanship

Swordsmanship increases the damage you do with Swords and your chance to inflict a critical hit when using a sword. Many skills, especially sword attack skills become more effective with higher Swordsmanship.

As with any melee profession, the ability to apply Deep Wound is paramount; Sever Artery followed by Gash is a widely-used "chain" to cause Bleeding and Deep Wound on a target. Final Thrust is a great finisher (i.e. for targets with less than 50% health); it is one of the most powerful spike skills in the game.

There are only four Elite Swordsmanship skills; these have traditionally been outclassed by Unlinked or other attribute elites. However, they are valuable to specific builds: